(4 March 2026 | Source: Telegram channel 'Kozachkov offside')
A murder committed in Almaty nearly 19 years ago has reached a judicial conclusion after prosecutors Aida Imanaliyeva and Aliya Sarsekeyeva re-examined archival materials. Their review made it possible to identify a third participant in the crime, who had not previously been held accountable.
HOW THE CRIME HAPPENED
According to journalist Mikhail Kozachkov on his Telegram channel 'Kozachkov offside', the crime occurred in the autumn of 2006. Three men were driving around Almaty in a car, looking for a victim.
On Rozybakiyev Street, near the wholesale market, a woman — a citizen of Kyrgyzstan — hailed them from the roadside. She asked for a lift to Aynabulak for 400 tenge.
During the journey, the driver stopped the car, claiming the old Mazda had supposedly broken down. He got out to check the engine, after which his two accomplices, who were inside the vehicle, grabbed the woman and strangled her.
According to the source, the criminals dumped the victim's body on the Kapshagai Highway, keeping her personal belongings for themselves.
WHAT WAS TAKEN FROM THE VICTIM
As noted in the publication, the woman's property taken by the perpetrators included:
- gold jewellery
- cosmetics
- a Sony Ericsson mobile phone worth 38,000 tenge
- a handbag
- a watermelon and a kilogram of apples
According to the source, the total value of the stolen items was 77,000 tenge.
WHY ONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS ESCAPED PUNISHMENT
After the crime, the police identified two suspects. They were found thanks to the victim's mobile phone: the device turned up with an acquaintance of one of the men.
Eventually, two of the perpetrators were sentenced to long prison terms. However, a third person in the case was not identified. The materials concerning the unidentified individual were separated into a separate case.
According to the source, the case later ended up in the archive, and the investigation was suspended.
HOW THE THIRD PARTICIPANT WAS IDENTIFIED 19 YEARS LATER
In 2025, prosecutors from the Almaty Region, Aida Imanaliyeva and Aliya Sarsekeyeva, were reviewing materials on unsolved crimes. During the check, they noticed the 2006 case and discovered that the search for the third participant was not actually being conducted.
The prosecutors re-examined the documents, cross-checked databases, and requested additional information. As a result, they concluded that the third person in the car could have been Aset Kurneyev.
According to the source, he had been questioned back in 2006, but had not been criminally charged at that time.
WHAT DECISION DID THE COURT REACH
After the investigation was resumed, Aset Kurneyev found himself in the dock. He denied any involvement in the woman's death.
Nevertheless, the court found him guilty based on the evidence gathered, including the testimony of previously convicted participants in the crime and witnesses.
The court sentenced Kurneyev to 16 years in prison.
According to the source, the verdict has not yet entered into legal force.
This is not the first time an investigation into a serious crime has been reopened years later. As reported on 10 February, it was announced that an investigation into a murder from 13 years ago in the Turkestan Region had been completed. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, on 12 October 2012, in the Sairam District, 6 men attacked the victim, after which they took him to a rented apartment in Shymkent.